Strickland Exposes SCHIP Hypocrisy, Unintentionally

We have held our tongue on the performance of Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, waiting for him to do something that exposed him for what we believe him to be, an unimaginative hack who obediently serves the national party agenda. Strickland's blocking of school vouchers for poor kids in failing schools was a fine example of his fealty to public employees unions. But now WVXU has supplied coverage of the event.

For the last two days, Cincinnati's esteemed NPR news affiliate has been covering Strickland's reaction to Bush's vetoing of SCHIP funding. The station has reported his dramatic statement in two distinct parts (and we'd love to supply a link to this coverage, but we can't find one):

• Strickland says that this veto means that millions of children, thousands of them in Ohio, will not get the health care that they need.
• Strickland says that the veto will not require a change in Ohio's budget for SCHIP.

Yes, this veto is terrible, awful. Kids will die in the streets. No, this veto doesn't mean a thing for Ohio's SCHIP program. We can fund our budget perfectly well at current levels without this bill passing. Wow!

We couldn't ask for a more obvious admission that for the Democrats the entire SCHIP affair has been a matter of trying either to expand SCHIP to become a middle-class entitlement or to stick the Rs with bogus blame for letting sick children die.